Krugman: Conspiracies, Corruption and Climate (“The bottom line is that we are now ruled by people who are completely alienated not just from the scientific community, but from the scientific idea — the notion that objective assessment of evidence is the way to understand the world. And this willful ignorance is deeply frightening. Indeed, it may end up destroying civilization.”)

Blow: Soul Survival in Trump’s Hell (“I don’t think that this is even a matter of fatigue, but rather of the capacity of rage and the length of mourning. Hopelessness is a very human response when the feeling of persecution intersects with the feeling of powerlessness.”)

Why Republicans Can’t Govern (“The Republican Party now includes the successors to this Southern faction, as well as immigration hard-liners. But the political climate has changed since the 1960s. Many overtly racist attitudes have fallen out of favor. While New Deal Democrats sometimes governed by accommodating racists (a practice with a lasting, damaging legacy), those kinds of compromises may no longer be politically viable.”)

The Only Problem in American Politics Is the Republican Party (“There is nothing on the left with the reach and scope of the conservative media universe defined by talk radio, Fox News, and other outlets that have functioned as state media…Democrats fear Republican government because it is dangerous and extreme. Republicans fear Democratic government because they are dangerous and extreme.”)

Trump Leads Quiet Rise of a Socially Conservative Agenda (“An aggressive regulatory effort has led to policy changes related to gun ownership, gay rights, reproductive choices, immigration and other divisive political issues. Several long-serving civil servants are said to have left as a result of the effort.”)

Elegy for the Sunshine State (“It’s useful to remember this now, as Hurricane Irma lays waste to much of Florida: the destruction of the state has been unfolding for decades, and, for the most part, it wasn’t done by nature. It was done by us.”)

How California could jolt the 2020 presidential race (“California is pushing forward with a plan to change the state’s primary date from June to March, a move that could scramble the 2020 presidential nominating contest and swing the early weight of the campaign to the West.”)